Fortunately, none of the humans even mentioned evasion tactics though it was no secret to Thian that each human captain was reviewing how to preserve ship and crew even if the `Dinis were quite willing to spend lives and ships to destroy a Hiver.
Privately, Thian wondered how many escape pods he could fling to safety with or without the impetus of generators in the event the Vadim was badly struck. There was also the ethical and moral problem of should he also contrive to save himself, the Prime, if it was at the expense of fellow shipmates? He decided that avenue of thought was depressing and self-defeating.
This squadron had six of the newest, best equipped and best-armoured vessels of their respective navies, and powerful new weapons. Contemplation of defeat and/or suicide was self-destructive.
Even thoughts of evasion could be defeatist. He started emanating stern resolve and optimism.
Somewhat to his astonishment, his efforts began to produce results in the discussions as humans and `Dinis both began to talk themselves into more positive thinking.
HIVE SHIPS FOLLOW TRADITIONAL PATTERN NO MATTER WHAT SIZE AND NEVER DEVIATE, Captain Spktm said, slipping a pencil file into the ready room reader and bringing up the enhanced image on the main screen. WEAKNESS REMAINS WEAKNESS, STRENGTh STRENGTh WITh THE QUEENS ALWAYS IN ThE MOST PROTECTED SPOT, EGGS NEXT AND ExPENDABLE WORKERS DRONES AUXILIARIES IN OUTER SHELL. The spherical shape of the Hive had been opened in one arc to show the levels. Much was extrapolation since Hive ships had to be blown apart to be stopped, fragmenting both attacker and attacked. The `Dinis had gathered their information painfully – over the centuries. SCOUTS ARE ALWAYS IN EXTERIOR BAYS.
WEAPON SYSTEMS CONTROLLED FROM QUEENS’ LEVELS BY SPECIAL DRONES.
BELIEF IS HELD ThAT ThERE ARE SPECIAL REINFORCEMENTS TO PERMIT QUEENS AND MOST VALUABLE EGGS TO SURVIVE EVEN THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF ThE SHIP. `DINI ATTACK GROUPS HAVE LEARNED TO RESERVE AT LEAST ONE SHIP TO CHASE AND DESTROY THESE SPECIAL INTERIOR CONTAINERS WHICH HAVE ON OCCASION CONTAINED SMALLER UNITS LIKE HUMAN ESCAPE PODS. (Mrdini ships had no comparable unit.) ThE SURVIVAL OF AT LEAST ONE QUEEN ONE ATTENDANT DRONE MEANS THE HIVE SURVIVES. SUCH SURVIVAL UNITS HAVE ACHIEVED ESCAPE VELOCITIES THAT, UNTIL RECENTLY, EXCEEDED THE BEST SPEED OF CHASE VESSELS. QUEENS AND EGGS SURVIVE IN CONDITIONS FATAL TO MRDINI AND HUMAN.
Then the `Dini captain activated an animated reconstruction of the phases of attack and dissolution of a Hive ship. As often as Thian had seen this vid, it never failed to give him nightmares. The average Hive ship had between twelve to thirty Queens. Tear-drop-shaped vessels spurted from the exploding wreckage of the demonstration Hive ship.
They travelled at incredible speeds, disappearing so rapidly in all directions from sensor range that a fix could not be taken, making pursuit difficult – especially if only one `Dini ship remained operational at the conclusion of the battle.
For just this Hive manoeuvre, every ship in the squadron had been provided with eight high-speed pursuit craft cradled in the shuttle bays.
Optimism spread and defeatism dissolved as the humans began to psych themselves up for their encounter with this implacable enemy and destroyer.
The fatalism which always motivated a `Dini soldier began to seep into their human allies as Spktm pointed out primary targets for the initial assault.
Then the human captains began to embrace the actual, not the theoretical, aspects of the possibility of their first space battle in generations.
Finally, Thian was asked to inform both homeworlds of the discovery of an as yet unidentified object. Thian decided he’d tell Jeff Raven, as Earth Prime, first.
Shouldn’t we wait to find out if the thing’s really dangerous?
Jeff asked.
I’m following orders, sir.
As indeed you should, even with news as momentous as this, Jeff replied equably. It does add a little spice to an otherwise dull day.
I’m passing the word to the High Council so you can expect to be on call now for messages. Are you a hard sleeper?
No, sir.
Well, get what you can when you can. That’s the downside of this job. Ah, yes, High Council is calling an emergency session. Have you apprised the Mrdinis yet? Do so immediately. It is only proper you would inform your own species first.